Iranian official warns Netanyahu: Practice swimming in the sea

Deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatens that Israel could be destroyed by Hezbollah.

The deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday to “practice swimming in the Mediterranean” because he would be forced to abandon his country.

“I tell the prime minister of the Zionist regime to practice swimming in the Mediterranean because soon you will have no choice, but flee into the sea,” said Brigadier-General Hossein Salami said, who was quoted by AFP.

Salami, who was speaking at a rally of the volunteer Basij militia in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, threatened that Israel could be destroyed by Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon.

“They are not at the level of being a threat for us, Hezbollah is enough for destroying them,” he said.

Iran does not recognize Israel, and opposition to the Jewish state has been a central tenet of its government since the 1979 revolution.

Iranian officials regularly threaten Israel, including Salami, who earlier this year warned the Jewish state that its military bases were within reach.

“Don’t trust in your airbases; they’re within reach. Don’t have hope in the U.S. and the UK,” he said in April.